Take me out to the ball game

 Last week our good friends gave us tickets to watch a baseball game...we were pretty excited to take the boys to their first real game! They LOVED it!! We're gonna have to do it again because it was the perfect night out with our little guys! :)

Thanks again Mellissa & Sal, we owe you!

back to normal...

Today we had a follow up visit with Dr. R. Joshua loves him & really looks forward to these appointments, which is great. There were some scheduling miscommunication which lead to 4.5 hours at the office, but we walked away with some great news!

Dr. R said that Joshua's heart function looks great. He said it looks as good as it did last year post-op! We are so incredibly thrilled to hear that he has improved, and that he's actually doing quite well. Just months ago we were given very devastating news, and here we are a few months down the road with a much healthier little guy. 

I can't tell you how thankful we are for the prayers that have been said on our behalf. We definitely had moments of deep sadness during that time, but felt the love and support of so many of you. It feels so good to be on this side of that hurdle. Seems as though Josh will continue to face many hurdles in his life, but for now, we plan to live it up this summer! Lots of swimming, biking, camping & beach days are in order!!!

A Wish in the making - Day 1

Well, I suppose it's time to share our adventures! Joshua's Wish trip was simply amazing! On Thursday morning at 5am we anxiously awaited the limo that would drive us to San Francisco for our flight to Orlando.

The limo was so much fun & we felt so fancy arriving in such style. The kids had never flown on an airplane so the flight was a highly anticipated part of our experience.

And the flight did not disappoint...the kids loved it! We flew on Virgin Airlines & they treated us so well...we even met the captain!

Before we knew it we had our rental car & we were headed to our Disney Resort...

We were tired at the end of the day, but we couldn't pass up the pool, so...

 We suited up and we swam the night away! Not a bad way to start out an amazing week!  Just look at this smile:

It says it all!

Day 2 - A Wish come true

So Friday, our first day at the park, was Joshua's big day (funny thing is - they were all big days)! It was the day he was to attend the Jedi Training Academy, as well as meet and greet several different actors and characters.  We spent the day with a VIP tour guide, Debbie, who got us where we needed to be & kept us entertained!

The day started out beautifully & we were all so excited for the events of the day! And then the rain started!!!

Which didn't dampen our spirits actually because we knew we were in for an amazing day. The nice thing about Florida is that it's warm when it rains, however, it was a little chilly when we were drenched & went inside to ice cold A/C!

But really, we didn't even care...a little (or a lot in this case) of rain wasn't gonna ruin our day!

Unfortunately, the Jedi Training was cancelled for the day, but instead we got to spend extra time with the characters & actors. They were all so incredibly nice & took so much time with us. They gave Josh gifts & they called him by his first name.  His little face just lit up & he thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone.

We also got to see a few shows through out the first day...our favorite was the Storm Trooper show. They are seriously hilarious....I haven't laughed that hard in a very long time!

But the meet & greets weren't over yet! We got to visit "the dark side"....which turned out to be down right terrifying, even for the worlds biggest Star Wars fan! These guys NEVER go out of character, that's important to note. So Darth Maul for instance, it's his job to scare the pants off of people, not shake hands and share pleasantries.

Did I mention Darth Vader is seriously like 7' 8"??? And he's a total mouth breather.

By now, surely you've noticed Josh is nowhere to be found in any of these pictures. Well that would be thanks to Darth Maul!! As soon as Josh laid eyes on him in the distance he was FREAKED!! We tried desperately to convince him that he should go meet him, but he was NOT about to get near him. I have no idea why.

Perhaps it was the way he stood staring Josh down for 5 straight minutes?? I was laughing so hard. Darth Maul knew this was Josh's wish, so he made it memorable. SO FUNNY!
The people at Disney came up with an ingenious plan to get a picture of Josh with Darth Maul...

So we got our picture, but not without a little creativity! As we walked away, Darth Maul continued staring at Josh & pointed at him as we exited the area. I am quite certain Joshua will never forget a second of it!

The lead Star Wars guy at Disney was with us at this point and asked Josh if there was anyone else he really wanted to meet. Wiping the last of his tears away he said, "Luke Skywalker."
We were then escorted to the other side of the park to a holding area right next to the meet & greet for Princess Leia, R2D2 & C3PO!!! And wouldn't you know it, this guy snuck up behind us to say hello:

This was the absolute highlight of our already spectacular day! Luke was so nice to Josh & spent the longest time talking with him.  I cried. I shed a lot of happy tears on the trip....especially during this part of the experience.

The kids had a blast meeting all of the characters, and I have to say, Sam & Leia sure hit it off.

He's still talking about his Leia.  

After all that we were ready to eat! Debbie reserved us a spot at this indoor Drive-In movie diner:

It was both delicious and fun! We also rode some rides and had some other adventures:

Finally we said goodbye to our new friend Debbie. We were sad to say bye because she was so helpful to us, but she gave us a ton of tips to help us on the rest of our trip! She even gave me her cell # and told me to call her any time with any questions during our stay. 

What a wonderful day it turned out to be...and we still had 4 more days of fun!!!